Truth in Reality founder Sil Lai Abrams to Moderate "The 21st Century Black Woman" Town Hall at NAACP Leadership 500 Conference

 

May 10, 2013

National NAACP event to be held in Naples, FL, Memorial Day weekend

WHO: NAACP Chairman Roslyn M. Brock; NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous; Truth in Reality founder Sil Lai Abrams; professional racer Nicole Lyons, former Delta Sigma Theta President Gwendolyn Boyd, others TBA

WHAT: NAACP Chairman Roslyn M. Brock will host the ninth annual Leadership 500 Summit over Memorial Day Weekend at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Naples, FL. The summit is a venue for professionals and thought-leaders to engage with each other and with the NAACP. This year’s theme is, “Leadership is Not a Title, It is an Action!”

The summit is the brainchild of NAACP Chairman Roslyn Brock, the youngest woman to hold that position.

“Leadership is not something you are given; it is something you earn and something you learn,” stated Brock. “The Leadership 500 Conference offers current and aspiring leaders the chance to connect with peers who share their passion for social justice. We will bring together politicians, teachers, entrepreneurs, athletes, and business leaders who all have one thing in common: a dedication to civil and human rights in their personal lives and in their careers.”

Participants will attend two and a half days of workshops, interactive panel discussions and general sessions. A Town Hall Meeting titled “Twenty First Century Black Women” will address issues affecting women of color, ranging from employment and gender equality to trafficking and indentured servitude. The Town Hall Meeting will be live streamed. Other workshops will cover criminal justice, health, media, entrepreneurship, and other issues.

WHERE:
475 Seagate Drive
Naples, FL 34103

WHEN:
May 23-26, 2013
For a full schedule, visit http://www.l500.org/thursday.html.

Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.

BYE HATER: The Curious Case of Reality TV Crusaders

April 25, 2013 by Team Truth in Reality

It happens with any social change, movement or meme: first comes support, then comes the backlash. Recent months have shown growing support for grassroots initiatives such as Truth in Reality's Responsible Reality TV Movement that call out the tired, racist, and dangerous stereotypes that pervade negative reality shows. As if on cue, in comes a critique via a recent article that calls out “Love and Hip Hop Atlanta Haters” as condescending at worst and simpleminded at best.

As some of the most watched shows in the Black community, it would be ridiculously ignorant to label the entirety of reality TV audiences as foolish. We don’t question the intelligence of reality audiences. Rather, we question the accountability of the choice to watch, which opens for discussion a conversation about the social impact of “ratchet” reality television shows.

And what of that social impact?

Reality TV crusaders accuse detractors of attempting to tailor Black television to fit White sensibilities. Critics of the Responsible Reality TV Movement get it wrong in at least one crucial way. “Ratchet” stereotypes may reinforce the racist views that the bigoted have of us.  But what effect does it have on how we view ourselves?  

When an association between Black culture and dysfunction is made every Monday night, it lowers our own expectations of our community’s behavior.  Pop culture doesn’t exist in a vacuum; it’s a constant feedback loop that both shapes and reflects many things, including societal prejudices. In the case of negative reality TV, these prejudices show Black women in particular as comical, materialistic, loud, and—perhaps worst of all—singularly violent. Isn’t that why they’re so entertaining?

Reality crusaders have a right to defend their guilty pleasures, and even feel righteous for doing so. But while they’re laughing, tweeting, and shaking their heads at the steady stream of dysfunction, we’re shaking ours at the studies and statistics that demonstrate how increased viewership of violent reality TV correlates with aggression, low self-esteem, and violence against women.

Shows like Love and Hip-Hop Atlanta aren’t a singular cause of the Black community’s afflictions. They’re a symptom of a huge societal inequity. Even if stereotypically racist media depictions didn’t cause racism (research shows it does), they provide a vehicle for its dissemination. If we can provide a roadblock, we will do our part to derail its flow into our living rooms.

Some say that efforts to create change in the existing model of negative reality “entertainment” are futile because positive media portrayals haven’t cured every negative symptom in the Black community. In other words, we’re buried under too many problems to dig our way out. That’s their reality. We choose to work for a better one. 

Truth in Reality is Featured at the Girl Scouts of Northeastern New York's "Strong is the New Pretty" Expo

ALBANY, N.Y. – A free girl expo, "Strong is the New Pretty," was held in Albany to provide girls an opportunity to participate in fun activities and workshops. Truth in Reality Founder Sil Lai Abrams was the keynote speaker at this event which gave girls in grades 6 through 12 a chance to learn how to create a confident view on self-esteem, leadership skills, and strengthen their self-development.

The event, hosted by the Girl Scouts of Northeastern N.Y., was held at the Washington Avenue Armory located at 195 Washington Ave. in Albany.

Truth in Reality Founder & CEO Sil Lai Abrams with the Girl Scouts of Northeastern New York's Anzala Alozie, Lisa Austin, and Monica Minor

Join Truth in Reality Founder Sil Lai Abrams for an interactive discussion on the image of Black Women in the media on TheGrio.com

Reality TV and the changing image of the African-American ‘leading lady’

As international Women’s History Month comes to a close today, examining the image of black women in media, and how it has evolved over time, may shed light on how black women will continue to make historic inroads in the future.

In the poem Still I Rise by Maya Angelou, the poet writes: “You may write me down in history/With your bitter, twisted lies,/You may trod me in the very dirt/But still, like dust, I’ll rise.” Many of the historical lies told about black women have been wrought through negative images in media. Yet, we have also “risen” through the same means, through positive images that inspire us to achieve.  These dueling images — the destructive and the empowering — are engaged in a fierce battle even today through our most powerful mechanism of media dissemination – TV.

The current popular depiction of black women on television is caught between two extremes. On one hand, you have an emotionally complex, intelligent and self-made woman in the character of Olivia Pope on the wildly popular ABC show Scandal.  (While there are other, less sophisticated characters on scripted shows like The Game and Meet the Browns, they for the most part are ignored by black media.  Meet the Browns, despite being a Tyler Perry production, is never a trending topic on Twitter.)

At the other end of spectrum, there is the gimmicky, low-rent version of Olivia Pope, mostly seen on “reality” television. From the perspective of superficial appearances, this black woman seems to operate from a somewhat similar privileged segment of society. This woman also lives in a finely appointed home, dines at the finest restaurants, and wears designer clothing. However unlike the fictional business woman of Ms. Pope, the “crazy black reality show chick” generally cobbles together her ostentatious and opulent lifestyle via a usually dysfunctional relationship, whether past or present, with a man of financial means.

Such a formulaic presentation of black women on TV is lucrative. The numbers are in and the people have spoken.  Married to Medicine, for instance, the latest network reality show to feature another slice of Atlanta’s endless supply of black female subcultures, is a bona fide hit. It debuted to Bravo’s highest ratings for a reality program that wasn’t spun off from an existing show, with a solid 1.9 million people tuning in to this newest feat of cable programming focused on drama and cat fights.

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